Originally Posted By: KitaCam
I'm less drawn to LPs for their sound quality than for other factors.
I grew up with them so my ears were "educated" by analogue.
I like album cover art.
LPs have always been the cheapest medium. Since the 1990s I bought close to 3000 disks (all near-mint) for about $450....about the cost of 45 CDs....I've a lot of music around here I'd never have if I just bought CDs.
As for sound....I may be easy to please...but mid-level components seem fine to my ears, though I do agree that the cartridge does seem to have as much an impact on the nature of the sound as do speakers...and speaker location.
As for the speakers, I was recommended the Dynaco A25 boxes by an opera singer who said that their mid-level tones were as natural as any and for a singer the vocals were most critical...
Before I took his advice I remember comparing the A25 to the equivalent AR and found that whichever was on top of the other always sounded better...location, location, location is very important with speakers.
Over the years I have upgraded the tweeters to smooth the highs a bit and added a sub-woofer to the system for the bottom end.
I also remember using the Dynaco Quad-box for simulated surround sound and loved it...I still have one of those!
As for turntables...I've had several belt-driven Duals that just didn't hold up over all these years and many moves....I still have a rim drive 1219 I got in '75, but the quartz-locked DD seems the most reliable set-up, and luckily the Technics 1311 isn't afflicted by a finicky cueing mechanism of other similar Technics models...
And think this...we've even gotten this far without entering the killing fields where tube-fans would die before listening to music transmitted by transistors.
Recently built (2) JLH (John Linsley Hood) 10 watt transistor amps.Very few parts, very musical with horns, excellent bass, 'Class A' 10 watts, need large heat sinks,enough power for almost any listening(with the Klipsch horns). They sound so good my 2A-3 tube amps sit on the shelves.
